Refuse destructor



June 23, 1936 J. E. ALLEN ET AL 2,045,115

' REFUSE DESTRUCTOR Filed July 3, 1930 I s Sheets-Shet 1 )NVENTORS J065. ///en, l/kfiae/J 6/ & we: 0. AW

A TTORNE Y June 23, 1936- J. E. ALLEN ET AL 2,045,115 7 REFUSE'fimsTliucToR 1 Filed July 5, 1930 Sheets-Sheet 2 F'IG.Z.

ATTORNEY.

u 1936- x J. E. ALLEN ET AL 2,045,115

REFUSE DESTRUCTOR' Filed July 3, 1950 :5 SheetsI-Shgt s F'IG.3.-

I IIIZZ IlI/ Il /II/ II /11III/11111111111111II r: 2 :1 I l INVENTORS r3ATTOR Y Patented June 23, 1936 PATENT OFFICE REFUSE DESTRUCTOR John E.Allen, Michael J. Blew. and Albert C. Wood, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application July 3, 1930, Serial No. 465,565-

6 Claims.

Our-invention is designed to provide improved means for the dehydrationand incineration of refuse and the utilization of the heat generated bysuch incineration for gradually drying further refuse as it passes overrevoluble dryers through which water is circulated in a closed cycle.

In accordance with our improvements, garbage, sewage, sludge or otherrefuse is discharged from suitable hoppers into an upright setting orflue in which are disposed revoluble dryers mounted in hollow headersand having adjacent thereto bafiles or deflectors so positioned as tocause the refuse material to be translated in a thin coating over alarge arc of the dryers preferably before discharge thereof to the nextdryer. Scrapers are also provided for dislodging from the dryers anyadherent material. The dryers, headers and scrapers are protectedagainst excessive tem peratures of the direct heat by a stream of 0001-ing water which flows upwardly through the scrapers and discharges at apoint adjacent to the tops of the headers which are connected by 'a drumhaving a port above the bottom thereof through which wateroverflows'into hollow shafts on which the dryers are mounted and steamgenerated in the dryers is discharged to the drum. The dryer shafts areperforated within the dryers so as to permit flow of water into thedryers and flow of steam into the shafts, and any overflow from thebottom dryer is returned to a feed water tank for re-circulation. Thesteam generated in the apparatus is collected in the upper drum andpasses therefrom to a condenser or heat exchanger from whichthecondensate is discharged to the feed water tank.

The refuse is dehydrated by its passage over the dryers both by the heatthereof and by the upflowing gases from a furnace and is discharged to agrate, preferably a traveling grate, onto which fuel for supporting oraccelerating combustion is discharged from a hopper. The ash may bedischarged from the end of the grate through a suitable dischargepassage. The gaseous products of combustion after drying the refuse arepref-' erably passed through a deodorizer such as a secondary furnace orcombustion chamber or through a scrubber in which they are washed anddeodorized before discharge to the atmosphere. Preferably a fan orblower is provided to insure adequate draught when a scrubber isemployed.

The characteristic features and advantages of our improvements willfurther appear from the following description and the accompanyingdrawings showing an illustrative embodiment thereof.

In the drawings, Fig. 1. is a longitudinal sectional view of adestructor embodying our improvements; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectionalview thereof taken on the. line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and Fig.

3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the substitution of asecondary furnace deodorizer for the scrubber of Fig. 1.

As illustrated in the drawings, a structural iron framework l supports aplatform or roof 2 and carries a, plurality of hoppers 3 and 4discharging through chutes or ducts 5 and 6 to the interior of a flue orsetting I communicating with a combustion chamber 8 of a furnace 9. Thefurnace and setting are housed within the framework I, and the walls ofthe furnace and the front and rear walls and roof of the setting may bebuilt of metal, brick or other suitable refractory material.

The sides of the setting are preferably enclosed by hollow headers inand II preferably built up of shaped metal plates,and the upper portionsof the headers are connected with a drum l2 having a steam outlet l3.

The headers are provided with sleeves l4, l5 and I6 through which,concentrically with the sleeves, extend hollow shafts ll, l8 and IS, onwhich are fixed the respective drums or dryers 20, 2| and 22. The endsof the shafts I! which project from the headers have fixed thereto thewheels 23 rotating on the antifrlctionkrollers 24 supported uponbrackets 25 attached to the headers. The respective shafts communicatewithjthe respective drums fixed thereon through the aper,

' tures l1, l8 and I9. One end of the shaft'll is connected through apacked joint 26 with the conduit 21 communicating through the port 28 vwith the drum l2 above the bottom thereof. The

opposite end of the shaft I! has fixed thereto a pulley or sprocket 29and communicates through the packed joint 30 with a conduit 3| whichcom-' municates through the packed joint 32 with a shaft I8 which hasfixed thereto the pulley or sprocket 33T-The opposite end of the shaftl8 communicates through the packed joint 34 with the bent conduit 35which is connected by means of the packed joint 36 with the shaft 19.The shaft I9 has fixed thereto a pulley or sprocket 31 and is connectedby means of the packed joint 38 with a return tube 39 discharging intothe water tank 40. The pulleys 29, 33. and 31 are rotated in thedirection of the arrow shown in Fig. 1 by a belt or sprocket chain 4|driven from a shaft or motor 42. By varying the speed of the motor, orinterposing suitable change speed mechanism, not shown, the rate of feedof the refuse may be varied to eflect a desired degree of dehydration.The power shaft 42 also drives through the belt or sprocket chain 43,pulley 44, sprocket chain 45, pulley 46, and shaft 41 the rotary feeder48 in the hopper 3 whereby regulated charges are fed at any desired ratefrom the hopper-through the duct 5 into the flue I. The hopper 4 may beprovided with a similar feeder or the discharge therefrom may becontrolled by a slide gate 49.

The water in the tank 40 is pumped by the feed pump 5| through the pipe52 to the water cooled scraper 53 which bears against the dryer 22. Thewater discharged from the scraper 53 passes through the pipe 54 to thewater cooled scraper 55 which bears against the dryer 2|. The waterpassing from the scraper 55 flows through the pipe 56 to the watercooled scraper I! bearing against the surface of the dryer 20, and thewater discharged from this scraper 51 is discharged through the pipe 58into the right hand header (Fig. 2) adjacent to the bottom of the drum|2.

The water thus pumped to the headers rises therein and in the drum |2until the opposite header is filled and the water level is adjacent tothe bottom of the port 28 through which the surplus water flows throughthe pipe 21 and shaft l1 into the drum 20. when the drum 20 is filledupto the level of the shaft II, the water flows through the pipe 2| andshaft l8 into the drum 2| until the latter is filled up to the level ofthe shaft I8. The water then flows through the pipe 35 and shaft l9 intothe drum 22, and when the latter is filled up to the level of the shaftthe excess passes through the overflow pipe 22 back to the tank 40. Thesteam generated in the drums 22, 2| and 20 escapes through the aperturesin the respective shafts and flows upward into the steam collecting druml2 from which it passes through the port i3 and conduit 59 into the heatexchanger or condenser 60 where the steam is condensed by cooling fluidcirculated through the pipes SI and 62. The condensate then passesthrough the pipe 83 to the tank 40.

The refuse discharged from the hoppers 3 and .4 falls upon the dryer 20and the baffle or deflector 84 positioned between the periphery of thedryer and the front wall of the flue. Such refuse is conveyed by therotating dryer and partially dried by the heat thereof and drops uponthe dryer 2| and bailie or deflector disposed between the drum and theback wall of the flue. The refuse is further dried as it is translatedby the,drum 2| and drops upon the dryer 22 and bailie or deflector 66disposed between'the periphery of the dryer 22 and the forward wall ofthe flue.

The drying of the refuse is substantially completed as it is moved bythe heated drum 22 and it then drops in suitable and distributedcondition for burning upon the traveling grate 81 to which fuel may befed from the hopper 68 and from which ash is discharged into thedischarge passage 20.

As shown in Fig. 1, the products of combustion are drawn upward throughthe flue 1 downward through the flue ll and upward through the scrubberchamber II by a fan or blower l2, and during the passage of the spentgases through the scrubber chamber they are washed and deodorized by thesprays or jets 12. The water collected in the bottom of the scrubberchamber may be discharged through a suitable overflow pipe I4 to waste.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, the products of combustion discharged from theflue 10 are drawn down through the passage Ha and into the secondarycombustion chamber 12a where the gases are deodorized by the flame fromthe burner 13a. 5 The combined products of combustion may have a portionof the heat absorbed therefrom by the economizer elements 14a and 15abefore being discharged through the stack.

By our improvements but little fuel, water or power is required for thedestruction of the refuse and the apparatus is kept in good conditionautomatically by protection of the elements subject to deterioration bymeans of water which can be continuously re-circulated and whichtherefore deposits a minimum of scale or precipitate. The rotation ofthe dryer cylinders and the action of the scrapers agitates, turns overand breaks up the refuse so as to expose a mainmum surface to thedehydrating action of the gases and cyl- 20 inders and insuring thoroughdrying throughout the mass. By'varying the rate of feed and the speed ofrotation of the drums, the drying time may be adjusted to the originalmoisture content of the refuse; or the speed of rotation of the 25 drumsmay be varied independently of the rate of feed by driving the pulleys42 and 44 independently.

Having described-our invention, we claim:

1. Apparatus of the character described com- 30 prising a rotary dryer,a scraper adjacent to said dryer, means for supplying a cooling mediumto said scraper, a receptacle through which said cooling medium isdischarged from said scraper, and means for supplying the cooling mediumfrom said receptacle to said dryer.

2. Apparatus of the character described comprising a series of rotatabledryers, means for rotating said dryers, scrapers adjacent to saiddryers, means supplying water to said scrapers, a receptacle to whichwater from said scrapers is discharged, means for supplying water fromsaid receptacle to said dryers and passing steam from said dryers tosaid receptacle, and means for condensing steam collected in saidreceptacle.

3. Apparatus of the character described comprising a furnace containinga combustion chamber, a traveling g ate in said combustion chamber,means for supplying fuel to said grate, a flue communicating with saidcombustion chamber, a plurality of revoluble dryers in said flue,headers at the ends of said dryers, scrapers in said flue adjacent tothe bottoms of said dryers, bailies in said flue adjacent to the tops ofsaid dryers, a drum connecting said headers, a hopper discharging to theupper portion of said flue, means for supplying water to said headers,drum and dryers, a condenser to which said drum discharges, and areceptacle to which said condenser discharges and from which water issupplied to 60 said headers, drum and dryers.

4. An incinerator comprising a flue structure including hollow side-wallheaders, a plurality of hollow rotatable dryers iournalled in, andbetween, the headers, a hollow scraper for each a dryer, a hollowstationary drum disposed between, and communicating with, the headers,and means for circulating water successively through the scrapers to theheaders and drum and through 70 the dryers in they order named.

5. An incinerator comprising a hollow rotatable drum, a baffle elementfor directing material to the drum, an element for scraping the drum.one of said elements being hollow, and means for circulating waterthrough the drum and the hollow member, and means including a condenserhollow element. communicating with the hollow member for col- 6. Anincinerator comprising a structure'prolecting steam and returning it aswater to the viding a flue, means for heating the flue, appatank.

ratus for conducting material through the flue JOHN E. ALLEN.

including a hollow member, means including 9. MICHAEL J. BLEW.

supply tank for circulating water through the ALBERT C. WOOD.

